Showing posts with label the curse workers. Show all posts
Showing posts with label the curse workers. Show all posts
Free White Cat Download
Red Glove by Holly Black
**Please, please!! If you haven't read White Cat yet - know that mild SPOILERS follow. Much of the appeal of this series is all the crafty cons and double-and-triple-crossing that occurs, so just trust me when I say, ignorance is bliss here. Honestly though. Why haven't you read these books yet?? I'm waiting over here...
Everyone has their claws in me. Everyone.Once upon a time, Cassel Sharpe thought he was a powerless nobody in a world dominated by dangerous 'curse workers,' people who have to ability to kill, maim, even change your dreams with just a touch of bare skin. At least until Cassel discovered that his brothers had been altering his memory in order to keep secret his extremely rare and dangerous skill: the ability to transform anything. But Cassel isn't the only one who has been damaged by his family's duplicity: his childhood friend and longtime crush, Lila Zacharov was emotionally worked by his mother to fall in love with Cassel. Now Cassel has no way of knowing if any of what Lila says or does is real. And it's killing him to keep his distance from the one girl he's always loved.
Just when Cassel figures his life couldn't become any more complicated, a pair of Federal Agents pop up, demanding Cassel's help in solving a murder (...or else) that hits a little too close to home. Knowing he's walking a fine line between his con artist family and his own personal safety, Cassel begins to pick apart the mystery that leaves even our hero, the cool and ever unflappable con man that Cassel is, out of sorts and rattled to the core.
Let me tell you Holly Black wasn't experiencing any sort of mid-series slump when she penned Red Glove. If anything, her second Curse Workers novel is better than the first: the cons are twistier and the characters prove they have much, much more at stake. Every single one of Ms. Black's characters are dang good: Sam, Danica, Barron, and goodness LILA - each one is a pitch-perfect. And then there's Cassel. Boy howdy. I could read stories about that guy all the live long day.
Cassel has got to be my favorite male POV narrator (with Split running a close second that is). Full of candor and wit, at first glance Cassel seems easy going and full of life, yet scratch the surface and you discover this freaky-scary intelligent dude who is forever scrambling to keep up with all the various Bad Guys who have him in their sights. To be honest, Red Glove is probably one of the top books I've read all year - in any genre.
*And after you've gone and devoured Red Glove, I highly recommend you check out this short story, "Lila Zacharov in 13 Pieces," written from Lila's perspective on Holly Black's website. It's one freaking amazing collection of insights into Lila's character.
series reading order:
~ White Cat - my review
~ Red Glove
~ Black Heart (??)
Because Everyone Likes a Second Opinion:
Bookshelves of Doom Review
Dear Author review
Girls in the Stacks review
Icey Books review
Novel Thoughts review
book source: my local library
White Cat by Holly Black
Wait a minute.
That sounds like something I'd be all over.
Bring it on Ms. Black.
In Cassel Sharpe's alternate reality, Curse Workers have the power to alter emotions, grant you luck, break your leg, or even kill you with a single touch of their bare skin. Although 'working' was outlawed in the early 1920s, curse workers have continued to thrive outside of the law under the direction of mafia-like families of magical users. Cassel hails from a long and impressive line of curse workers and con artists. And while he's not a worker like his brothers Phillip and Barron, he can definitely claim the con artist status. But Cassel is going straight. While his mom serves time in jail, Cassel is attending an exclusive private school and trying to act normal - even if he does run a small-time betting ring to cover his daily expenses. Yet the perfect image he has so painstakingly constructed begins to crumble when Cassel begins dreaming about a white cat asking for his help and sleepwalking at school. Confused with the jumbled snatches of memory from his past and the various versions of truth his brothers offer in explanation for their increasingly odd behavior, Cassel finds himself deep in the tangled web of a mysterious conspiracy spanning years and involving every person he has ever loved.
In White Cat, nothing is as it seems: from the 'public' image Cassel creates of himself, his relationship with his brothers and mom, or to his own perception of himself and his abilities. Compelling and gritty, Cassel finds truth spilling forward at the most unexpected moments from the unlikeliest of sources. I am utterly intrigued to discover where Holly Black will take the Sharpe brothers next. All three have this unique love/hate relationship with each other, tied up in knots alongside their conflicting loyalties and hopes for the future. Not to mention their own skewed perceptions of family and loyalty. It's some truly heady stuff. Then there's Cassel's grandpa who is decidedly old school but who everyone just sees as old. But wowza, the man is a killer. Literally. Although I do wish he wouldn't spend so much time being cryptic with Cassel - his insights could have saved him buckets of time.
Although it did take me a few chapters to really warm up to Cassel, sections like this one quickly helped me to see just what a unique and intelligent guy he really is.
Mom says that because she can make people feel what she wants them to, she knows how they think. She says that if I was like her, I'd have the instinct too. Maybe being a worker tempts you to be all mystical, but I think mom knows about people because she watches faces very closely. There're these looks people get that last less than a second -- micro-expressions, they call them, fleeting clues that reveal a lot more than we wish. I think my mother sees those without even noticing. I see them too.How could I not fall instantly in love with Cassel's profusion of con-man lingo and his obvious removal from anything remotely resembling a 'normal' relationship. Familial or friendly. In Cassel's world, a mother wouldn't hesitate to use her ability to manipulate her children's emotions or reward her kids for successfully pulling off a con. Heart-breaking but so incredibly engrossing. In this exceptionally character-driven novel, Holly Black has crafted a world so unlike any other YA book I've come across. White Cat is dark. Gritty. Intense. Just my kind of story.
Like, walking back toward the coffee shop with the cat in my arms, I can tell that Sam is freaked out by the con, by his part in it, by my planning it. I can tell. No matter how much he smiles.
I'm not my mother, though. I'm no emotion worker. Knowing that he's freaked out doesn't help me. I can't make him feel any different.
series reading order:
~ White Cat
~ Red Glove (?May 2011?)
Because Everyone Likes a Second Opinion:
All Things Urban Fantasy review
Alpha Reader review
The Book Smugglers review
The Compulsive Reader review
Dear Author review
Pure Imagination review
book source: my local library
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